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Festival aims to educate by celebrating American Indian peoples and cultures
5/10/2008 12:43 AM   0 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friend

By SUZANNE R. STONE

Staff writer

Children from Aiken County elementary and middle schools got a chance to learn about the country's oldest cultural traditions Friday at the Little Horse Creek American Indian Association and Cultural Center's 2008 Spring Powwow & Cultural Festival.

The Association held its Children's Day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at Langley Pond Park, with busloads of students from Warrenville Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School and Jackson Middle School in attendance.

"We do these to help educate people as to who and what Native Americans are. We don't all live in tepees and ride horses," said organizer Candi Sparrow Hawk Watson. "This is how we educate our children and other children. They say children are our future, but that's wrong; the elders are our future. If the children don't learn from the elders, we lose everything. We've already lost so much culture, so many languages."

The students were treated to storytelling, Mayan dance demonstrations and took part in a Candy Dance and an Ugly Coyote Broom Dance, as well as an advance look at the handicrafts, clothing, hats, musical instruments and other Indian-themed items offered by the Powwow's vendors. The American Legion provided lunch for the students.

"I told the story of how the butterfly was created," Watson said.

The Powwow had its proper opening with the Grand Entry prayer dance, a trade blanket and family-oriented, American Indian-themed movie screening starting at 7 p.m. Friday. The gates reopen at 10 a.m. today and the Grand Entry dance will be at noon, closing with a trade blanket at the park's picnic shelter. Gates open Sunday at 10 a.m. followed by a worship service at 10:15 a.m. and a Grand Entry dance at noon. The Powwow concludes at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Watson estimated that if everyone who had contacted the organizers prior to the Powwow was able to attend, they would see attendance over the weekend of some 3,000 to 4,000 people. Tribes represented include Incas, Mayans, Navajo, Blackfoot, Pamunkey, Mingo, Cherokee, Narragansett, Shawnee, Chickasaw, Iroquois, Creek, Mohawk, Ottawa, Algonquian, Seminole and Choctaw, among others.

"Part of the reason we do Powwows is that to us they are family reunions, Whether you knew them before you got here or not, it's all our extended family," Watson said.

"Two years ago I went to a Powwow in Rhode Island. I hadn't been to one since I was 10, and now I'm so glad we have a Powwow down here. It helps my children learn," said Powwow participant Ella Davidson.

Admission to the Powwow is $4 for adults, $3 for ages 60 and older and free to ages 12 and younger. Proceeds will go to help impoverished residents of Indian reservations, and collections of personal items, linens, school supplies and gift cards for residents of the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations will be taken at the Powwow.

Chairs and blankets are welcome, as are pets kept on the leash and out of the circle, but drugs, alcohol and profanity are prohibited.

For more information about the 2008 Spring Powwow, call 640-2454.

Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.





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